drew brees breaks a 52-year-old record. you can hear his reaction and his new passion project all ahead this morning. it's thursday, october 11th, and "starting point" begins right now. morning, welcome everybody. you're watching "starting point." a packed show this morning. cory booker will be joining us. reince priebus is our guest. new orleans saints' quarterback drew brees will be celebrating with us this morning. and david axelrod joining us. our starting point, the high-stakes showdown in kentucky. paul ryan and joe biden fating off. it will happen in a little less than 14 hours from now. it will be the one and only vice presidential debate. you're looking at live pictures of the hall in danville, kentucky. that's where it's going to happen. new polls out to talk about. they show that the romney/ryan team is gaining ground where they need it the most, in the

swing states. romney is closing the gap in ohio and pulling ahead by a point in virginia. mitt romney is in front in another swing state, colorado. let's get right to cnn's dana ba bash. she's already in kentucky with nap good morning, dana. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. well, paul ryan knows full well the pressure is on him to keep the momentum you just illustrated going. and he's actually been preparing, effectively, i'm told, since the day he was picked by mitt romney. reading, studying as much as he can. he's been doing mock debates with his sparring partner, who is a former solicitor general, the renowned litigator, ted olsen, with hotels from oregon to florida. i spoke to him exclusively, soledad, about his prep and it is pretty clear that this kind of preparation is nothing new for him. telling you what a source i spoke with about how you prepare for hunting. you wash your clothes in

unscented detergent, shower in unscented soap, spray unscented stuff on your boots. i know this is fairly typical, but you take it to a whole another level. >> if you're into hunting and bow hunting, that's the way to do it. i do take it seriously, because i'm much more successful if i do things properly and prepare the right way. >> how does that speak to how meticulous you are and doing anything in your life? >> i've always believed, if you're going to do something, do it well. you're talking about the debate, i suppose. joe biden has been doing this for a long time. he ran for president twice, he's a sitting vice president. he's been on this stage many times before. i know how he'll come and attack us. the problem he has is, he has barack obama's record he has to run on. >> are you intimidated at all, based on the background that you just described? >> no, i'm not intimidated. i'm actually excited about it. >> now, joe biden may have the

experience that ryan just laid out, but he is not taking anything for granted. we are told that he has been in debate camp for four days back in his home state of delaware, also doing 90-minute mock debate sessions. and we're told according to our jessica yellin, she's been doing some reporting on the fact that he's been trying to focus on making sure that the policies that he's going to discuss are said in plain english, like bill clinton style. and certainly the last debate, soledad, was substantiative, was it did get a little wonky, so plain english might be a nice change tonight. >> there are lots of things that i think everybody can improve from the last debate. dana bash for us, appreciate it. in just a few minutes, we'll be talking more about the debate and new poll numbers with newark mayor cory booker. >> a lot of news today. a body found in the search for a missing 10-year-old girl in colorado. police in westminster will hold a news conference this morning after finding a body at a park in arvada, not far from where jessica ridgeway was last seen. but for now, investigators say they cannot make a connection to

the ridgeway case. a man who was trapped under a huge slap of concrete for 13 hours was pulled from the rubble alive. early this morning at the site of a parking garage collapse in doral, florida. that collapse left three workers dead. the five-story garage was under construction when the structure gave way late yesterday morning, with dozens of workers trapped inside. a contentious four-hour hearing on the terror attack that killed u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans, it quickly turned political. house republicans questioned the administration's motives and criticized the white house for security lapses at the u.s. consulate in benghazi. democrats fired back, accusing house republicans of cutting funds for security and turning a tragedy into a side show. >> and i am fascinated to know and to understand, from the president of the united states, from the secretary of state, and from the ambassador to the united nations, how they can justify that this video caused this attack.

it was a terrorist attack. let's be honest about it. >> i certainly hope that today's hearing is not going to be perceived as an effort to exploit a tragedy for political purposes 27 days out from an election. >> meanwhile, mitt romney has agreed to stop talking about the day he met former navy s.e.a.l. glen doherty. doherty was killed last month. benghazi attack. his grieving mother accused romney of politicizing her son's death. the evidence is mount this morning against cycling champ lance armstrong. a stunning new report by the u.s. anti-doping agcy includes armstrong's former teammates talking about how they and the seven-time tour de france winner beat their testing by using saline injections and backdated precipitations. they said armstrong and his team participated in the most sophisticated and professionalized and successful doping program that the sport

has ever seen. armstro armstrong's attorney says it's nothing but a witch hunt. >> i'm not suggesting that they are all lying, but i am suggesting that each witness needs to have cross-examination to test the accuracy of their recollection. >> but he's not saying they're lying. the report says armstrong and his team also benefited from inside information, tipping them off to upcoming drug tests. and is there anything better than playoff baseball? two unbelievable finishes last night. first in the american league division series. the yankees' raul ibanez. this was great. ibanez, a walk-off homer in the 12th into beat the baltimore orio orioles. the yankees lead this series now two games to one. meanwhile, the oakland a's, not to be outdone. down two runs and facing

elimination, a walk-off single by coco crisp, the best name on planet earth, delivering the victory, sending their series with detroit into a fifth and deciding game tonight. they were in the ninth inning, down by two runs, still came back and one. what a comeback going into game five. >> is this painful for you since you're a red sox fan? does it hurt your heart? >> whenever the yankees lose, i think an angel gets their wings. but the baseball last night was so good and so exciting, i don't care. >> you're a bad, bad man, john berman. >> leave the dark side of the force, luke. >> we try, we try, we try. newark, new jersey, mayor cory booker is with us. he's a obama campaign surrogate. we've got lots to talk about. first the debate. if you look at the polling, troubling for you guys. swing at a time polls show ohio, virginia, tightening up very much. if you take a look at colorado, virginia, wisconsin, that's from a quinnipiac poll, we were talking about this a little bit earlier, also tight.

you have to be, i know politicians always say, polls, never follow the polls, but you do follow the polls and they're very tight, and that has to be worrisome, clearly since they're a bounce off the debate. >> i follow polls, i pay pollsters when i'm running for elections. so they are important. but for me, what gets me excited, i was down in florida and campaigning down there. i saw a street operation or a ground game like i've never seen before, an enthusiasm. so i think what you're going to see is a lot of the polls polling likely voters. what we're going to see like we did four years ago is a big and enthusiastic turnout for the president. but the reality is, i think when people start considering the issues and really look at the substance of these folks, not the fo, which we saw in debates, but the substance of what they're talking about, you'll see voters understand that the best plan for moving our economy forward lies with the president. >> most people who were polled, it's not a giant gap, but it's a substantial gap, i think it's

fair to say, think that paul ryan is going to win, if you will, win the debate. if you pop up that poll there. what do you think are the biggest strengths and weaknesses? and be genuine, strengths and weaknesses of the vice president? >> at the end of the day, this is a wonderful thing. if you want an authentic politician, there's no more raw, authentic politics than you get from the vice president. he is who he is. and i'm hoping that comes on tonight. because i think the american public are going to see a guy who's really passionate and gets very excited about the dramatic differences. now, that means that sometimes people accuse him of going off-script or whatever. >> which he does. accuse him and he does. >> but that's refreshing to me. i really crave,rom both sides. this is why i liked mccain back in 1992, when he was running. because it was a rawness, it was a truth, shooting from the hip, as opposed to the guy who had to run hard to the right, like many republicans have to do to get their primary wins and the like. what we need tonight is just a pure, unadulterated honesty from both sides. i do not want to see the paul ryan that i saw in the debate,

in the convention speech, which had distortions of the truth, talking about steel mills closed under bush, talking about simpson/bowles when he himself voted against it. i want to see the paul ryan back when he was unveiled the ryan budget. tell people the truth of really what you want to do to medicare and social security, the kind of stuff you said until you were a candidate, and now you're trying to shift to the middle for votes. i want to hear the raw truth, because americans are definitely going to have a real choice. and the last thing i want to see is an explanation from both sides, how are you going to pay for what you want to do? this is a very detailed plan that people can get on obama's website about the $4 trillion worth of cuts they want to do. very detailed. some of the stuff is painful. what we hear from romney and ryan is no specifics whatsoever. the only specific they've given of something they'd cut is the cut to pbs, which is one ten thousandths of what we spend in the federal budget. >> a $4 trillion number, which was a $5 trillion number, has been debated a lot, and has been fact checked at times to say

false, partly because there's not enough detail to figure it out. >> where those cuts are going to come forward. so we could do what bush did, expanding military spending, giving tax cuts to the wealthy. this is what romney wants to do. but he doesn't tell us how we're going to pay for it. he won't tell one specific loophole that he'll close. i'm not reflexively partisan. i want to see a substantiative analysis of details o of what your plan is. don't hide the ball like we had in law school. tell us the truth of what you're going to do. ryan used to do that when he was talking about the ryan budget. he put specifics in the ryan budget. scary to me, talking about privatizing social security, voucherizing medicare, but if that's what you want to do, tell the public. i don't want to see this candidacy -- i remember just weeks ago, mitt romney was a severe conservative. now he's trying to tell people he's not. i really just want this one, and i think biden's going to give it to us, to be raw, authentic truth telling in this debate. >> president obama said on the radio, he was talking to tom joyner on tom joyner's radio

show. and he said he was just too pote. another sort of analysis of what went wrong. let's play a little bit of that. >> the debate, i think it's fair to say, i was just too polite. you know, because it's hard to sometimes just keep on saying what you're saying isn't true. it gets repetitive. >> would you say that was your analysis of how that went? was the problem in that debate that he was just too polite? >> well, i'm not -- i wasn't in the president's debate prep, but there is a lot of right advice on a president to stay presidential. don't get out there. i remember when romney said, i should -- if that's right, president, i'll hire a new accountant. i wanted to scream out, obama, say, keep your accountant. they're allowing you to pay only 13% in taxes. the rest of us should have accountants like that. but that's like a shot i don't want to hear from my president. so he's got a fine line to walk. the reality is, i would have liked to see some hard punches to the gut when romney would say

something factual inaccurate, like president obama was raiding $17 million from medicare, which is factually inaccurate. but i think the president learned a lot, he said it himself, from that first debate. ting the second one, you'll see him come out strong. but the reality is, i'm not interested, and i wish the american public, this is not "the voice." this is not "american idol," this is not about performances. this is about the facts of people's plans. and when i hear romney dodge time and time again, giving americans specifics, we're going to end up with a bush president again, who's going to give more tax cuts to the wealthy. >> but when he dodges specifics, though, he does say, this is something that i would do in the legislature. i wouldn't -- his answer for why he's not giving details. >> but he criticizes the president for saying the president should lead, he shouldn't wait for the legislature, he should come with a plan. i have the same problem in newark, i have the same problem in the state of new jersey. you've got to say, this is my plan. it may change, i'm willing to compromise with the other side, but i believe we should do this to medicare. i believe we should do this to

the american military. romney's not doing that. what he's doing is telling us all that we want to hear, that you can get a tax break, that we can increase military spending, that we can do all these things. i'm just not going to tell you how we pay for it. >> do you think vice presidential debates matter? we certainly hope so, because we'll be covering it. but at the end of the day, do you think people say, so-and-so won -- >> this debate matters. it really does. it matters when people come forward to tell the american people the substance. the last one had record viewership. i think you will be very pleased tonight, because i think everyone's going to tune in. because when it comes to joe biden -- if this were on papy pr view, i would pay to watch this. >> we'll give it to you for free. >> you root for the yankees and i'll pay for the it. >> we end as we start. we'll continue to talk about the debate with the debate coach, bret o'donnell. he was back the other day talking about the presidential

debate. now he's going to talk about the vp debate, see exactly what each candidate needs to do to be successful tonight. at the bottom of the hour, we'll get some from reince priebus. he'll be joining us. of course, you can watch the vp debate tonight on cnn d cnn.com. our coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. i'll be part of that tonight heading out to kentucky right after this program. also ahead, jerry sandusky blaming his victims for his sex abuse conviction. calling the young men ingrates and liars. we'll tell you the startling new letters that he and his wife also wrote to the judge. and a tackle on the football field, but not between the players. it's why the coach literally ended up in handcuffs. come on, people! it's our "get real." christine, what are you looking at in business? instead of punishing hackers, google is rewarding them with a whole lot of o money. hack google and you could win $60,000. who's behind the bug bounty, what's behind it, and hows it working out for them, next on

starting point. , lord jamie. thou cometh and we thy saveth! what are you doing? we doth offer so many discounts, we have some to spare. oh, you have any of those homeowners' discounts? here we go. thank you. he took my shield, my lady. these are troubling times in the kingdom. more discounts than we knoweth what to do with. now, that's progressive.

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and welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans. minding your business now. more evidence the housing market is healing. foreclosures are at five-year lows, according to real estate tracking firm, realtytrac. u.s. stock futures are up, but there's a lot of uncertainty still in the markets this morning. a big reason is europe's debt crisis. standard & poor's downgraded spain's credit rating overnight, citing risks to economic growth and budget problems. all right, a hacker named pinky pie is $60,000 richer this morning. google awarded its bug bounty to this teenage boy who goes by that handle for finding holes in google's chrome software during a hacker competition. it's the second time this teenager has won. and it's so interesting when you think about it. you know, just put out a contest

out there, find a hole in our chrome and i'll give you $60,000. it's cheaper than hiring a whole bunch more software engineers, right? >> and the minute he finds the bug, they turn around and repair it. it's brilliant. sounds like a made-for-tv movie. vice president joe biden and congressman paul ryan will go head to head tonight for the first and only time. it will happen in this building in kentucky. former campaign adviser bret o'donnell usually comes and talks to us in person, but not this time. he worked with john mccain before. nice to see you, bret. walk me through literally three things joe biden needs to do to be successful? >> well, i think for joe biden to be successful, he does have to get on offense. he's got to turn the tide and slow the momentum that the romney campaign had coming out of last week. so the first thing is, he's got

to get on offense. the second thing is, he can't make a mistake. vice president biden seems to have problems when he gets on offense. so he's got to avoid making the mistake. but then the final thing is, he's got to make his experience work for him and not against him. he's got to appear to be the more experienced, seasoned candidate, the measured candidate, like he was against sarah palin, as opposed to to being old and making his age work against him. >> all right. three things that paul ryan needs to do to be successful tonight? >> well, paul ryan has got to do what governor romney did last week. he's got to get on offense about the economy. he's got to pin the economy on joe biden and barack obama, and he can't get into the policy weeds. he's got to be that visionary. so he's got to appear to be more the ceo than the cfo, in terms of how he phrases and how he conducts himself in the debate.

and then, finally, he's got to show that he's got a command of the economy. we've heard he does, but now's the chance for folks to really get to see that on display in the debate tonight. >> so i think for both men, some of the challenges we've actually seen in the run-up. for joe biden, of course, it's the gaffes that people now talk about all the time. let me play a little chunk of what i would call kind of a typical error from him. listen. >> it was wonderful for children, by the way. having your grandpop live with you. having your great aunt and your uncle, for real. but those walls were awful thin. i wonder how the hell my parents did it. but that's a different story. >> i would say that's kind of a typical one. paul ryan, we've seen, of late, struggles to actually give specifics, specifically when he was talking to fox news. listen to this. >> there's been a traditional democrat and republican consensus, lowering tax rates by

broadening the tax base works. and you can -- >> but i have to -- >> no, let me -- >> you haven't given me the math. >> well, i don't have the -- it would take me too long to go through all of the math. >> so i would say those are going to be the big challenges, right? >> oh, i think so. i mean, i think if you start with vice president biden, you know, the gaffe that you played was kind of humorous, but he's had some serious gaffes, particularly -- >> we had a lot to pick from, you're absolutely right. there was not a shortage. >> yeah, yeah, i mean, starting at the top of that list was his description of barack obama as the clean-looking black man. i mean, all of those gaffes can add up. and if he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders, that he's the person who has to turn the momentum of the campaign, i think that's an awful lot of pressure to put on the vice president. >> but for paul ryan, i think the lack of math, and i think some of what has come back to mitt romney has been, sort of, okay, what are the details?

if he doesn't spell it out and do the math, that can be problematic, right? >> well, i think he's got to make sure he can transition the debate from the ryan plan to the romney vision. so he has to describe where that ticket would take the economy. i think he's got to stay in the same area, though, that governor romney did. governor romney was able to list off sort of the top lines of where he wants to take the country, but stayed mainly on offense in terms of talking about the economic failures that they see as causing the problems we're in right now. i think that's where he has to stay. >> it will be interesting to watch tonight, bret o'donnell, presidential debate campaign adviser, nice to see you, as always. appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead this morning, a football player who was tackled by the opposing team -- not, not a kid on the opposite team, it's the coach who then ended up in handcuffs. it's our "get real" this morning. we'll talk about that. the "starting point" team is heading in. we'll talk about other things as well, the vp debate, of course,

included. we're back right after this short break. hi, guys. good morning. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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i didn't know walmart had all this. the price is impressive, the quality is too! come to walmart and see for yourself. find quality eyewear brands starting at just $38. only at walmart. what are they fitting, aliens? welcome back to "starting point." a few stories to tell you about this morning. before ft. hood shooting suspect nidal hassan goes on trial for murder, a court will decide whether he can be forced to shave his beard. lawyers for hasan removed from the case, saying he overstepped his authority by issuing the shave order. a computer breach has compromised the identity of more than 200,000 former and current students. the school confirms some of the accessed information includes social security data. wow. that's got to be -- >> i get letters like that, just a note to let you know some of your data may have been compromised? i've gotten about five of them.

>> yeah. >> in the last year, i would say. >> spammers. >> no, i think it's people who have actually broken in and they're warning me. >> i think they're spammers. >> like the nigerian spam. >> some random will cain comes and sits on the set, maybe replacing you. we'll see. our team this morning, ben smith is the editor in chief of buzzfeed, rowland martin is the host of "washington watch with rowland martin" on tv 1, and will cain is with theblaze.com. let's talk about unnecessary roughness. football coach payton utah faces criminal charges, knocking over a 13-year-old player on the opposing team. there's a coach, his name is nate harris, basically sticks his arm out and clotheslines this 13-year-old kid as he comes running across the sideline. he hits the kid so hard, this kid is 13, he suffers a

concussion. they eject the coach and later arrest him and charge him with second-degree felony child abuse. >> this is where you need the crazy parent. we've seen the video where the parents go nuts. this is the one where the parents go nuts, go ahead, take your time. >> on the coach? >> on the coach. >> it's like a perverted version of one of the most famouslays in college football. i'm thinking of the 1954 cotton bowl. running back running down the sidelines, alabama player sitting on the bench runs on to the field and tackles him out of the blue, from the sidelines. >> i don't follow a lot of football, but you can't do that. >> of course this is worse, because this is a child. >> yeah, terrible. >> that's where you have no problem with a coach getting beat down. >> we have a couple of crazy coach stories in the news today. there was like a fight with a bunch of coaches. you guys had it on your show earlier this morning. >> i coach my kids, my 5-year-old kid's soccer team. and there's a whole list of rules, pages long about how you behave and not behave. and there's a reason why. because this stuff happens. >> who have you punched, john?

>> i am very respectful of everyone's feelings on that field at all times. >> >> there was no sincerity in what he said. >> that was like a legal phrase. and my lawyer has told me to say -- >> but i've tripped a kid. >> if he deserved it. still ahead on "starting point," we'll talk to reince priebus, the chair of the republican national committee, talk about the vp debate which is happening tonight. also, he is in the books now with a record-breaking throw. new orleans saint's quarterback drew brees will join us to talk about another challenge for him. it's to get kids in shape. that and much more ahead. # ♪ but a wise man once said that the secret to life ♪ ♪ is to find one that don't look the same ♪ ♪ find one that don't look ♪ the same ♪

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." let's begin with john berman who has a look at the day's top stories. >> a senior official at the embassy in sanaa, yemen, has been shot to death on his way to work. officials say he was a yemeni national. the embassy was stormed by protesters last month. jerry sandusky and his wife, dottie, blaming the victims for his sex abuse sentencing. insteading of asking for mercy, he attacked the boys he molested as ungrateful liars. he wrote, "what would be the outcome if all the accusers and their families were investigated? all their issues would surface. they would no longer be poor,

innocent people, as portrayed." the justices heard oral arguments yesterday in a case that could impact admission policies at private and public policies. abigail fisher sued the university of texas, claiming she was denied admission to her dream school because she was white. as the death toll in the fungal meningitis outbreak rises, calls for more oversight. at least two lawmakers are introducing bills to strengthen the fda's oversight of compounding pharmacies, including necc. the one linked to this outbreak, which shares property with a garbage dump. a second compounding facility under the same ownership is under federal inspection. 12 people have died. at least 137 infected in 11 states. the hardest hit states, tennessee, michigan, and virginia. a new study claims that more young and middle-aged adult s ae having stroke. in 1994, about 13% of strokes happened between adults between the ages of 20 and 55, and in

2005, that jumped to more than 18.5%. why the change? it could because of an increase in stroke for younger americans, including diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol. and this just in. the nobel prize in literature was just awarded to chinese author mo yan. the royal academy of science saying his work merges folk tales, contemporary with hallucinatory realism. a favorite of will cain. the prize is worth $1.2 million. >> i'm high on reality! >> now we get to pick it up. >> $1.2 million. >> can i tell you something? i really would like to interview jerry sandusky. because what he is saying is so insane. i would love to just sit down and dig into what he is thinking. to say that he -- >> his wife was on that letter too, though. >> and her too. >> a lot of folks in jail will get a chance to chat with him. let's get back to the vice

presidential debate. joe biden and paul ryan will have just one chance to debate before the election. you can see them go toe to toe tonight. it will happen right here on cnn. it will happen rate there on that center, the norton center for the arts in danville, kentucky. the debate takes on new significance after the victory for mitt romney in the first presidential debate. the president now admitting that he had a bad night. you think? and that bad night helping boost mitt romney in the polls from big states. romney is ahead by one point in virginia, according to a new nbc/"wall street journal"/marist poll. east gained a point in ohio, but obama's lead in ohio is a little bit more comfortable there. republican national committee chairman reince priebus is in kentucky for the debate. nice to have you with us this morning. great to see you. let's talk about ohio, if i can for a moment. i just showed that poll a moment ago. and good morning to you, of course. it's obviously being tightened up, that race. although president obama is still ahead. do you think the vp debate really does impact poll numbers? i mean, is that going to happen? >> well, i think that debates

matter. you know, i've got to tell you. i think we've all been surprised over the last year and a half by how many americans have been very, very interested in these debates. you recall, i mean, we had about, you know, 2002 debates during our republican primary. and, you know, cnn would have -- would show one of our debates and we would have 7 million people watching a primary debate after going through 20 of them. and so i think these things are matter. americans are really tuned into this, especially after last week's debate, where the president just did a belly flop. i think people are going to be tuning in tonight, more so than they ever have before. >> paul ryan, if you look at a poll, is expected to win the debate. but yesterday, he said -- well, you know, i know. but there's a poll. people think he's going to win. >> it's like, who's going to win? okay. are the packers going to win this weekend. i don't know. >> i'm sure there's a poll that i could find that would tell you, yes, they are. and another one that will tell you, no, they want. but this particular poll says that he will win. and he has said this about it

being a nervous situation. listen. >> joe biden's been on this stage many times before. it's my first time. so, sure, it's a nervous situation. because joe biden's one of the most experienced debaters we have in modern politics. >> do you think that's true? that he's nervous? or it's a nervous situation? >> i think everyone gets -- i mean, i would they everyone would get nervous. i mean, i get nervous watching it. i mean, so, i don't think it's unusual. i think it's normal. and obviously, joe biden's been around a long time and he's been through this many times. i think he's going to do a pretty good job tonight. it's paul's first time. >> what do you worry about for paul ryan? what are you worried about, if you had to pick something to be worried about. >> i'm not really worried, generally, about any of it. >> i don't believe you, by the way. at all? really? you're the head of the rnc. come on, man. >> wait a second. no, i mean, generally. i have known paul -- listen. i've known paul for a long, long

time. he's always hit the ball out of the park. but let me tell you something. this is his first time. joe biden's been doing this since the 1800s. he will do a solid job. so, you know what, they're two different guys. they're two different guys, but they're both very relatable people. they can speak with authenticity. so it will be a great night. i think we can all agree on that. >> let me ask you about the abortion issue, which has now resurfaced in this conversation, around what mitt romney has said. in an interview he had in -- i guess it was an interview paul ryan did in florida. he said this. i'm going to play that first. >> how about the difference between your position on abortion and your running mate's? >> our position is unified. our position is consistent and hasn't changed. >> what is your position? >> you'll find -- you'll find -- i'm sure you'll find out in these debates. >> do you think that's the way to answer a question like that? "you'll find out in the debates." it kind of leaves it -- if

there's been a criticism, it's been, detail, detail, detail, where is it? and that seemed to be, where's the detail? >> you know, i think that when you get -- i don't know who said that, but when you get into these discussions, you know, there's not the type of thing that you can do in 30 seconds. but the fact of the matter is, both of these guys are pro-life, there's no doubt about it. and i see the flap over this "des moines register" question, but i don't -- there's no -- there's nothing there there. the fact is -- >> you don't think so? lest wa let's walk through that. let's play a little bit of what mitt romney said to the "des moines register." because people are talking about it. so i'm not sure there's no there there. let's play that first. >> do you intend to pursue any legislations, specifically regarding abortion? >> i don't -- there's no legislation with regards -- regarding abortion that i'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda.

>> and then his campaign right after that says this, "governor romney would, of course, support legislation aimed at providing greater protections of life." that's from andrea saul, she's the spokeswoman for the campaign. and then, of course, in the past, he has said, and recent past, on wednesday, he has said this. >> i think i've said time and again, i'm a pro-life candidate. i'll be a pro-life president. the actions i'll take immediately are to remove funding the for planned parenthood. it will not be part of my budget. >> so i'm going to remov funding for planned parenthood from my budget. that would be legislation. the first clip i played, he said, there will be no legislation in regards to abortion, that i'm familiar, that would be part of my agenda. that sounds completely contradictory to me. how is it not? >> yeah. and -- well, listen, you spent all this time setting up the question, and i appreciate that, but the fact of the matter is, what he's referring to is whether or not there were piles of legislation in the congress, what specific bills in the

congress, in regard to abortion are you going to -- >> reince, that wasn't the question -- >> yes, it is. >> no, we played the question. >> -- is entirely -- you can keep saying that, but the fact of the matter is is that mitt romney has been absolutely, 100% consistent on this issue. that he's pro-life. that there will be no funding of abortion through planned parenthood using taxpayer dollars. that he would use an executive order, the mexico city executive order, so that funding isn't used to pay for abortions abroad. i mean, this is just -- listen. you want -- >> do you intend to pursue legislation regarding abortion? so i'm going to read to you the verbatim of what that interview said. do you intend to pursue legislation -- >> you can say that all you want. >> i'm only repeating it because it's a complete contradiction. >> just keep repeating it and repeating and repeating it. >> i would like you to answer it.

explain to me how stnit isn't a contradiction. >> it isn't a contradiction. he's sitting there in front of "the des moines register" editorial board. they're talking about specific legislation in congress. you know what? he is going to have a piece of legislation in his budget that says that there isn't going to be taxpayer money used for abortion. >> so that's legislation then? >> why can't you accept that? >> because you've just admitted a contradiction. i hear you, i get it. i get it. you're going to stick to your -- i'm going to stick to my -- >> he's talk about congressional -- >> that wasn't the question. >> he is talking about congressional -- he's talking about bills in congress as they're sitting there today, what are you going to, as it sits in congress today, be pushing in regard to abortion legislation. >> so that's an excellent analysis of it, but that was not the reporter's question to him. we got to leave it there, reince, i'm out of time. >> soledad, i wish you would be as passionate about taking barack obama to task for every one of his promises and for

every one of his changes that he didn't follow through on. >> which we do all the time. you know what, trust me -- >> uh-huh, sure. >> i will send you the tweets the from people who hate me on the republican side and hate me on the democratic side. >> i don't hate you. >> i don't mean you. i know you love me. >> i come on all the time. >> i know, i assume that. i know you love me. but i'm just telling you, the people who love me. but i've got to tell you, we'll ask tough questions of everybody, i don't care what side they're on. nice seeing you, reince. i'll see you tonight in kentucky. >> right. >> sounds laike he doesn't see you. >> everybody loves me. i don't know what that's like. at the top of the hour, we'll hear from the obama campaign senior adviser david axelrod will be joining us. i'm sure people will tweet about that too. you can watch the vice presidential debate tonight live tonight on cnn and cnn.com. coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. still ahead on "starting

point," we'll talk to drew brees, he likes me. we'll talk to him just days after breaking a 52-year-old passing record. i'll read to you a little bit of what johnny unitas' son sent to drew brees. it is amazing. that's straight ahead. we're back in a moment. playing sports is just my whole life.

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welcome back to "starting point." a few stories we're watching right now. critically wounded anti-taliban activist who is all of 14 years old to a different hospital in pakistan. she is in critical condition this morning. three military officials saying they want to move malala yousufzai.

the taliban targeted and shot this young girl tuesday. felix baumgartner will attempt his skydive this weekend. he is hoping to break the sound barrier on the way down. all tangled up, two men spotted this deer, tuesday, caught in a soccer net in tennessee. able to hold the doe down and cut the netting off. >> poor girl. one of two sea lions that appears to have been caught in a fishing line, veterinarian will remove that from the sea lion today. a second sea lion was reportedly scared by a boat and went back into the water. saints quarterback drew brees will join us.

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now on display at the pro football hall of fame in canton, ohio. he broke johnny unitas' record. he joins us from new orleans where we should mention he is also the spokesman for paid 60 and also kinect from x-box. how do you feel about it? >> tremendous honor, very humbling. historic night. so many people are part of that. and just glad that it's over with. >> really? >> obviously the pressure mounting, going into the game. you just want to focus on doing your job and, you know,

executing each play and winning the game. but glad that it all came together the way that it did. >> sports illustrated said this will define you more than even winning the super bowl. do you think that's true? >> you know, you play the game to win championships. certainly at the quarterback position, too. at the end of the day you're evaluated by wins, losses and championship championships. along the way, when you're able to break records, such as this one, i think that's, you know, part of certainly your memories and reflection of this game when it's all said and done. because of all the people you go on that journey with, that's what make it is so special. >> drew, this is will cain. terry bradshaw spoke to exactly what you were talking about, records versus championships. i want to get your opinion on something he said. this record didn't blow him away. he's not into that stuff. i'm into records, winning football games as i'm into

winning super bowls. what do you think about bradshaw had to say? >> i actually agree. i'm into winning football games and winning championships as well. that's my number one priority. but certainly there are things that come along like this record and other records that we've broken as a team that are -- you know, they're significant. and it's something that so many people can share in, so many people can be part of. i think it's just part of the game just like winning or losing in other things, something that fans can get excited about. it's something that a lot of people tuned in on sunday night football to watch us do that, just like they tuned in last year on monday night football to watch us break dan marino's record. i say us because it's a team deal. even though maybe one name goes on the line, the record line, it's really a team record. >> johnny unitas' son wrote the nicest letter, really, i have ever read. i'm going to read one little tiny line from it. it goes on to talk about while this is important there are more

important things in life, saying this is what his father would have said to you. you're a great quarterback but even a better man, talking about the great humanitarian work that you do, which brings us to this project you're pitching, this 60 million minute challenge, encouraging kids to play for 60 minutes every single day. tell me about that. >> this is a great program where kinect for x-box 360 have geared up to play for 60 minute challenge. this could be me and you as well, kids of all ages, to commit to getting 60 minutes of active play per day in the fight against childhood obesity. as we know, one in three children is considered either overweight or obese, which is a scary statistic in our country right now. so this is one of the ways to combat that, by getting kids aware of, you know, living a healthy and active lifestyle.

certainly by the way that they can exercise outside or through interactive gaming, which is what kinect for x-box 360 is all about. people can actually get the 60 million minute app or go on to x-box facebook page to sign up and win the opportunity to get a social autograph by me or other nfl players on their facebook wall and obviously pledge to be active for 60 minutes a day. >> drew brees, nice to see you. congratulations once again. >> thank you so much. >> you bet. ♪ ♪ we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

monk. welco morning, welcome, everybody. the "starting point" of the day, the vice presidential debate this morning. also president obama calls his first debate a bad night.

he says, though, that he is in it to win it. >> you're going to win? >> yes. >> you want it more than the first time? >> absolutely. >> plus pulled from the rubble, construction worker freed overnight after being trapped under a collapsed parking garage for 13 hours. 200 pages and eyewitness accounts from once loyal teammates all detailing how lance armstrong cheated. stunning information to share with you this morning, thursday, october 11th and "starting point" begins right now. morning. welcome, everybody. our team this morning, ben smith is the editor in chief of buzzfeed. will cain is a columnist with the blaze.com. and john berman sticking around from "early start" this morning. our one and only chance for joe bide sben paul ryan to talk directly to each other and to

the nation. it will take place in about 13 hours, the campus of center college in daille, kentucky. good news for the romney/ryan team in new swing state polls this morning. wall street journal/merist poll has romney ahead. and another poll shows obama ahead. president obama acknowledged his first debate performance was a bad night but told diane sawyer he is in it to win it. listen to what he said. >> you're going to win? >> yes. >> you want it more than the first time? >> absolutely. >> david axelrod is the obama campaign senior adviser joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir.

thank you for talking to us. when he said a bad night, some people would say that's an understatement. what is he doing differently this time around? >> on tuesday night, i think you'll see. but obviously he got a feel for governor romney and how he was going to approach these debates and he went over the tape himself and he is his own harshest critic. i'm looking forward to next tuesday night. part of what took him aback a little was the degree to which governor romney tried to fudge his positions, walk away and obscure the positions that he's taken. you got a little taste of that in your last half hour on the issue of abortion rights. so that's a challenge. you have to be up to that challenge. but, you know, the president, i think, is highly motivated and looking forward to the conversation tuesday. >> the vice presidential debate, there's lots of conversations about exactly what the strategy will be for the vice president. gail collins said don't expect a

bored biden and david brooks said this. i'm thinking more along the lines of a wolverine, leaping across the stage and sinking his disturbingly perfect teeth into ryan's neck and just hanging on. that seems like a bit of an exaggeration. >> i think it is a bit of an exaggeration but the vice president is very much looking forward to the debate tonight. there are really clear distinctions between the president and mitt romney, even if governor romney is trying to fuzzy up those distinctions in the final weeks of the campaign. you know, one feature of this debate that will be interesting is a few weeks ago, soledad, congressman ryan was on television. when asked to explain how they're going to pay for this $5 trillion tax cut for the wealthy, he said, well, it's too complicated to explain in this short period of time. well now he has 90 minutes to do it. perhaps he'll use hits time that

way. >> that $5 trillion number, which you keep repeating over and over again, even though many people have said it's factually not true mostly because there's no details around it. why do you keep going with that number? >> what nobody disputes that governor romney has proposed $5 trillion tax cuts that would be skewed to the wealthy. what he says is that i will offset it with tax increases in the form of closed loopholes and tax deductions but won't tell anybody what they are. he will give us the details on how he's going to offset that later. if i'm the middle class i'm saying, watch out. because we know how this ends. we've seen this story before. >> there were pretty volatile hearings yesterday in congress over the deaths of ambassador stevens and three other americans in benghazi. it seems to many people that the state department certainly made numerous mistakes, but some have accused the white house in being involve

involved as well and there certainly are some statements, when you look at specifically what jay carney says, doesn't go as far as ambassador rice but clearly when he was pointing to the role of this videotape, which has been completely disproven. what was the role of the white house in this? >> the role of the white house was to convey the information that we were receiving from our intelligence people on the ground and in the area. and that's what we've done throughout. no one has an interest in obscuring facts about this. the president, of all people, wants all the facts so that he can act on them and make sure that in the future if there were deficiencies that we address them. the other thing is, and the primary task is to find those who are responsible and bring them to justice. we work with the facts that we have. as the facts emerge, the white house and state department have shared them. now the task should be to ask what do we need to do in the

future to guard against this kind of a situation? one thing we shouldn't do, however, soledad, is what paul ryan and the republicans in congress have suggested, which is to cut back on funding for the security of these facilities. >> but people have said you didn't share the facts unless it's really taken a full month to figure out that there was no actual protest outside of the benghazi mission. a month later we're just learning that what was supposed to have been a protest that moved into this terror attack actually never really happened. >> i think the intelligence community has spoken to that. and, you know, there is no doubt that that videotape created turmoil around the world. and i don't think anybody disputes that fact. we now know more about this particular attack. and as we've learned those facts, we've shared them. there's no reason not to share them. the goal has to be to solve

whatever deficiencies there were and make sure that our diplomats all over the world are secure. we send people into dangerous places. that's part of the job. and we need to make sure that to the extent possible, we're protecting those diplomats. and nobody feels more strongly about that, soledad, than the president of the united states. >> when president obama was on tom joyner's morning show, he told him that he was -- what was the word he used, roland? >> too polite. >> forgive me. he said he was too polite. many people have said the president, who has a natural aloofness, which has been written about many times, that this is catching up to him, that he's not connecting with the people and that the campaign is actually in some disarray. is that true? >> i don't think so at all. and as you look at even the polling data you're getting -- >> sorry. someone playing very loud b roll of the debate. my apologies. >> that's okay.

if you look at the polling, there's no doubt that traditionally, the challenger brings up one to three points after a debate. governor romney has collected somewhere in the middle of that. who is going to fight for you, who understands your problems or stand up for the middle class, the president has very large margins on those questions. so the notion that he's not connecting with people, that they don't understand that he's an advocate for them, that he doesn't -- the notion that somehow he doesn't get their -- that's not true at all. the reason he has been ahead in this race throughout is that because people do understand that he comes to the office every single day, animated by his own experience in life and those of the thousands of people he comes into contact with over the course of a woek through his letters, through contacts, discussions. he is out there, fighting every day for the middle class. that's really a big issue in this campaign. are we going to have an economy that's animated by that value

and that principle that we're going to grow this economy by building middle class or go back to the top-down tax cuts for the wealthy that got us into this mess in the first place? >> i get what you're saying. at the same time you saw movement from the debate. you can have all the connecting data you want. at the end of the day, mitt romney won that debate. how concerned are you about the next debate? >> i'm not concerned about the next debate. i know the president very well and know how determined he is, going into that debate. and primarily, soledad, i'm not worried because the president has the right message. he has the right values and the right prescriptions for this election. mitt romney is trying to fudge his own positions because he understands he is on the losing side of this debate. he wants to take us back to the very policies that got us into this mess, the president wants to take us forward, pursue policies that will build the

middle class, continue this recovery and strengthen it. >> a campaign senior adviser joining us this morning, thank you. >> thank you. >> you can watch the debate hereon cnn as well. coverage begins at 7:00 pm. a body found in the search for a missing 10-year-old colorado girl, police in westminster will hold a news conference after finding a body the a park in arvada, not far from where jessica ridgeway was last seen. for now investigators say they cannot make a connection to the ridgeway case. yesterday they cleared her parents and were treating her disappearance as an abduction. a man trapped under a huge slab of concrete for 13 hours was pulled from the rubble alive. early this morning at the site of a parking garage collapse in florida that left three workers dead. the five-story garage was under construction when the instruct our gave way yesterday morning with dozens of workers inside. senior security official at

the u.s. embase in yemen has been shot to death in a drive-by killing on his way to work. the victim was a yemeni national, employed by the u.s. embassy, the same embassy in sanaa was targeted by protesters last month over an anti-muslim film produced here in america. if you were asleep, you missed out. two fantastic finishes last night in the american league divisional series. yankees raul ibanez. he hit one to tie the game in the ninth inning. get this, pinch-hitting for the highest paid player of the game. pinch-hitting for a-rod. yanks now lead 2-1. not to be outdone, oakland a's, facing elimination. walk-off single by cocoa crisp to deliver the victory, sending their series against detroit to a fifth and deciding game in

oakland. the a's came back to send this to a fifth game. sports news not nearly as exhilarating. ending with the coaches throwing punches at each other. brawl right in front of players, parents and, yes, even cheerleaders. not the cheerleaders. posted by a player's stepmom who commented they weren't being good role models. >> you think? >> might be the understatement of the year. >> it was not clear if these not so good role models will be punished. >> i hope so. how do you tell kids not to do that? >> i like the cheerleaders jumping in, though. >> they got the swing, toochlt ibanez, $1.1 million. >> like one at-bat for a-rod. still ahead on "starting point," being called the most sophistica sophisticated and successful doping program that cycling has ever seen. what's in the thousand pages of evidence against lance armstrong.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." armstrong's former teammates reveal the ways they and the seven-time tour de france winner

beat the sports drug testing program, using saline injections, drug transfusions and backdated blood transfusions, engaging in the most sophisticated professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen. lance armstrong's attorney says this is a witch hunt. >> i'm not suggesting that they are all lying, but i am suggesting that each witness needs to have a confrontation and cross examination to test the accuracy of their statement. >> you heard the attorney saying i'm not sure they're lying but they should grill all those guys to prove they're not lying. what else is in this report? >> it's incredible, soledad. it's a thousand-page report, row leased by the u.s. anti-doping agency. and, of course, i didn't read every single word of it. i have been studying it.

there are sordid details of the amount of sophistication and amount of technology that went into what lance armstrong was doing during the tour de france. and there's 26 testimonies, 11 of which from his former teammate teammates. they talk about hotel rooms being transformed into blood transfusion centers, armstrong freezing his own blood to use it again later, talk about his ex-wife being involved in handing out pills to his teammates. it's unbelievable. i always respected lance armstrong a lot, had an opportunity to interview him a few years ago. it was one of the highlights of my career as far as interviews go. and then you see something like this happen and it' really a case where you can use that phrase going from hero to zero so quickly. i think everybody is shocked and this report has shed some light on what was going on behind the

scenes. >> absolutely devastating. thank you for the update on this story. >> yeah. >> we appreciate it. we have to take a short break. still ahead on "starting point" you heard the president say he was too polite and that's why he did not do well in the debate. is that another excuse for a lackluster performance? looking back, it's amazing how far i've come.

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welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans. minding your business now. stock futures are up. lot of uncertainty in the markets, though, guys. europe's debt crisis, standard & poor's downgraded spain's credit rating, citing risks to economic growth and budget problems. the housing market in the

u.s. is healing, foreclosures at a five-year low. a hacker named pinky pie is $60,000 richer this morning. google awarded the bug bounty to a teenage boy that goes by that handle, pinkie pie for finding holes in google's chrome software during a hacker competition. it's the second time this team has won, 60 grand for breaking into chrome. it's 10/11/12, everybody. i'm not sure what it means for our luck or anything. it is 10/11/12. >> i think it's good luck. >> i had good luck on 10/10/12. vice presidential deby the for the first time since the matchup against mitt romney, president obama is admitting his perfo performance may have left something to be desired. certainly people were saying that the last week. listen. >> well, governor romney had a good night. i had a bad night. >> how bad? >> well, it's not the first time

i've had a bad night but i think what's important is that the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed. >> those remarks come after a flurry of early defenses from the obama campaign. there was blaming the dishonesty. who were whoa talking to the other day? dick durbin, wasn't he saying he was so stunned by the president -- by mitt romney lying that he just couldn't get an answer out? >> yes. >> and then, of course, the whole pressure from the high altitude comments. i'm just throwing them -- i don't make them up. i just repeat them. columnist joel stein, his book qualified man made: a stupid quest for masculinity." let's talk about the v.p. debate. you'll be watching it, obviously. >> i am. i'll be at a book thing, which will have wine from this winery. it will be kind of a drinking

game. hopefully there will be a tv where i can watch it. >> you are a drinking game expert. if there is such a thing. >> no. that's waet to keep these debates interesting. i will be drinking this stark raving wine. i'm jewish. i have jew stomach. the things i'll be asking require requires a lot of sips. every time joe biden mentions amtrak, every time he refers himself in third person. >> that's a good one. >> he calls himself joe more than his wife. and every time he mentions medicare, i think we should drink. any time paul ryan's hair moves, i think we should drink. >> do you think we should drink every time we hear 47% or big

bird, will we hear these terms tonight? >> do you think you'll hear -- >> i'm asking you, joe. you're the guest here. >> drinking game expert apparently. >> yes. i'm going to say yes, you could drink on women. they seem to be holding back. i'm hopeful on big bird, though. >> holding back did not work so well last time. i think you'll see biden doing -- for all that -- joe biden comes in with this incredible expectation that he might take his shirt off on stage. he's not very popular. i think he has this great opportunity to come in and seem like less crazy than americans in some kind of cultural sense think he is. >> here is what people don't realize about vice president joe biden, first of all, four decades, extremely experienced, over the house judiciary committee, supreme court justices. more importantly, he was the lead negotiator for the president during the deficit

conversations. and so congressman ryan will not be able to say i'm the budget guy. biden will be able to say i was once sitting across the table from speaker john boehner, having those discussions. >> maybe that bodes well for some kind of hechft and substan. >> absolutely. >> and foreign policy, right? >> yes. biden will relish saving the president's butt. >> they are a little nervous. >> you think? >> joe biden -- little nervousness there. >> shirtless joe biden on the podium. >> my eyes are burned, i believe. >> if heas a good night he will walk off and tell the president, yeah, you owe me for that one. >> sparkling. >> of course. >> you should drink every time they mention scranton. you will be drinking. >> what about middle class? i think you would not even make it through the debate if you

drink every time they say middle class. >> you want to be sober, they won't say poor. you will not hear poverty. >> how about every time they mention their parents? >> you're drinking. no question. >> middle class and parents. two big ones. >> live look at tonight's debate hall in danville, kentucky. we talked a little bit about the democratic take, how it's going to go. we'll get a republican reaction to the debate. he's tall, yellow and ruffled feathers. >> leave him alone. >> in the election season. i'm talking about big bird, roland. there's an impact -- can i finish? may i finish? there's an impact on what's happening, all the conversation with big bird in the election and debate conversations to what we're going to see at halloween. you can guess that will be it. e are the real things. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see.

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trend of jobless claims back to '07. right now at the very end, it's continuing to trend lower, lot better than that huge spike. >> i'm watching to see what jack welch tweets. >> dow futures are up a 15,000 points right now. >> interesting. john berman has our headlines for us. >> fungal meningitis outbreak goes up. two lawmakers are introducing two bills to strengthen the fda's ability to oversee, compounding facilities, including necc. 11 people died, hardest hit states, tennessee, michigan, virginia and maryland. pretrial hearing in colorado in the case of aurora shooting suspect james holmes, accused of killing 12 poem and wounded 58

others during a packed midnight showing of "the dark knight rises" in july. the fate of the university of texas, affirmative aaction program rests with the supreme court. justices heard oral arguments that could impact public and private colleges. abigail fisher sued the university of texas, saying she was denied admission to her dream school because she was white. after being mentioned by mitt romney, big bird -- of course, romney said he would cut funding for pbs. one of this year's hottest h halloween costumes. big bird outfits have been flying off the shelves. >> everybody knows big bird doesn't fly. everyone. >> except for mitt romney. >> metaphorically speaking, of course. >> thank you, you wrecked it. >> big bird does not take

flight. >> my daughter was big bird last year. she kind of missed the whole thing. >> she was ahead of her time. >> leading edge. which was a mistake. danville -- debate hall in danville, kentucky, joe biden versus paul ryan. we'll, of course, be carrying that live for you here on cnn. his opponent have been talking about it. what degree will it matter? reid ribble. thanks for talking with us. i want to walk you through some of the op-eds that have been written about how they suspect it is going to go. people have gone, i think, completely over the edge on it. re is what the south caroli carolinademocratic chairman, dick harpootlian said joe's go

gonna take out the old meat-tax. and ooichl thinking more on the line of a fer al wolverine. the violence in these descriptions is disturbing. how do you expect the debate to go? >> it's not going to go like that. there's going to be a pretty robust debate, for sure. i think the vice president will be pretty direct in his comments about what the obama administration's plans are. he's going to have a tough time debating the record. we saw that last week with governor romney and president obama. when it actually got to the record they struggled a little bit. vice president is a confident debater. we look at debates historically, the older, more senior person often has the upper hand. not always but often. >> you're looking at a decent age gap between the two men. do you think age plays a factor in this? >> i think so. now it's a situation, is it going to be more reanesque or

more john kennedy? if the younger guy is able to carry his own. i know paul ryan really well. he's a good friend of mine. this guy is smart and is experienced and he understands the numbers. >> congressman? >> he will do okay but will have his hands full. >> one of the things he's known for is specifics. and figures and data. one of the things that mitt romney hasn't been doing lately is filling in the data and giving specifics on his tax plan and budget plan. what kind of challenge does that pose to paul ryan if he's faced with questions like that? >> i don't think it poses a big challenge. they'll try to present itin a way that the american people can understand. let's face the facts. if you get too much in the weeds on numbers, people's eyes glaze over and they don't understand it if you start talking about the difference of the cbo baseline, omb baseline. you start going down that path it's hard to maintain any attention level. i think they'll get into the

weeds enough that they can explain it but keep it simple enough at the 30,000 foot view so that the american people will understand it. >> but don't you think that there is -- i agree, you can go into the weeds deep on this stuff. everyone around this table have been reading cbo reports for way too long. you, included, i'm sure. but there's middle ground like what are you going to cut? won't that have to be spelled out by paul ryan tonight? >> sure, he's going to have to spell it out. vice president biden is going to need to spell it out. we hear a lot about how partisan this congress is. let me tell you, as a freshman member of the most bipartisan vote i experienced was when the president's own budget was defeated 414-0. you talk about bipartisan voting there. not a single member of congress on either side volted for it. vice president biden will have to answer to that as well. both sides will have a healthy debate on the budget. they'll get into the weeds a bit.

i don't think they're going to go really deep into it. i really don't. >> last debate president obama brought up the fact that in one of the republican debates mitt romney was asked that if he could get 10 cuts for one revenue increase, even he wouldn't support that. how can congressman ryan make the case about deficit control when even mitt romney could not even take that suggestion, 10-1? >> i think congressman ryan is likely to say if you implement the correct economic policies going forward, if you have the right regulatory framework for job creators in this country, right tax framework that you're going to grow the economy and increase revenue and that's how you build revenue into this system and into the budget and congressman ryan will be able to defend that and make that case tonight. >> wt to get a quick question in? >> yeah, congressman. republicans have been hammering joe biden as this gaffe-prone figure, somebody who isn't quite ready to be invoice president.

you talked to ryan about biden. what does he think of biden? does he respect biden, capable of being president? >> yes, he has a lot of respect for both joe biden and barack obama. paul ryan is a genuine american who appreciates the work done by any member of the official government, whether it's the president or whether it's a member of congress, u.s. senate. there's a great amount of respect there. and i don't thichink that's goi to be the case. obviously the vice president has had his gaffes that he has had in speeches along the way and is known for that. he is also known to be a very competent debater, a deep thinker, i believe. i think he'll prepare really well for tonight's debate. it's going to be an interesting evening to watch. if either of those candidates make it about them, i think they're making a mistake. this is about governor romney and president obama and i think they're both going to be focused on that. >> interesting point, i think.

a lot people think that the v.p. debate is not all that important in these discussions. nice to see you, sir. thanks for talking with us. >> soledad, thank you very much. but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. to investing with knowledge. the potential of td ameritrade unlocked. nyse euronext. unlocking the world's potential. to a world of super-connected intelligence.

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welcome back, everybody. tonight's debate in this hall -- let's take a shot of it, in danville, kentucky, expected to be a lot different than four years ago when sarah palin was on the stage. dana bash sat down exclusively with mitt romney's running mate, paul ryan, to talk about that. >> the only other person to debate joe biden in a presidential debate is sarah palin. have you called her for advice? >> i haven't. i only met her once, that was about two years ago. >> would you is this. >> sure. >> nice to meet you. can i call you joe? >> she famously or infamously asked him if she could call him joe. because she kept calling him joe obiden in prepping debates. >> actually we've gotten along quite well over the years. i like joe personally quite a bit. i just disagree with his

policies. >> you can catch that exclusive sbrou during our live coverage of the vice presidential debate at 7:00 pm eastern on cnn and cnn.com. coming up this morning, a 14-year-old taliban -- anti-taliban activist is fighting to stay alive. a horrific story. she was shot by taliban thugs. joining us with his report up next. ♪ ♪ we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.